Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of European states held from September 1814 to June 1815 in Vienna, Austria with the goal of providing a long-term peace plan by settling issues arising from the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich set up the congress, and the United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and the Russian Empire were expected to make the major decisions on behalf of the smaller nations of Europe.

Considerations of the Powers
The statesmen decided that they wanted to ensure that France would be unable to embark on any wars of aggression, while not punishing the French people; the statesmen sought to restore a balance of power that included France; the statesmen sought to compensate all losses made by affected states; the Congress sought to restore as many frontiers and rulers to their rightful positions as possible; and the victorious Allies sought to be rewarded for their efforts during the Napoleonic Wars while penalizing the former allies of Napoleon. The principal negotiators were the conservative Foreign Minister Metternich of Austria, Lord Castlereagh of Britain, Czar Alexander I of Russia, Karl von Hardenberg of Prussia, and Charles de Talleyerand of France, and the Congress decided to restore the legitimate Bourbon rulers to the thrones of France, Two Sicilies, and Spain, while they also restored legitimate princely rulers in the Italian states of Sardinia-Piedmont, Tuscany, Modena, and the Papal States. In Germany, the Congress had little desire to restore the Holy Roman Empire and its 300 states, and it decided to create a 39-state German Confederation instead.

Settlements
The Congress' key members did not always agree, at times leading to crises. Czar Alexander I demanded that the Russian Empire should receive all of Poland, while Prussia offered to cede Poland to Russia in exchange for Saxony. The Austrian Empire did not want to both cede land to a growing Russian Empire and empower Prussia, as both nations were threats to the empire; Britain believed that an Eastern Europe dominated by Russia would be as much a threat to the balance of power as was a Western Europe dominated by France. Talleyrand mediated between the factions, supporting Austria and Britain. Russia and Prussia agreed to accept less than what they wanted; Russia got a smaller portion of Poland, which became Congress Poland, while Prussia acquired two-fifths of Saxony. Russia also retained Finland, which it had taken from Sweden in 1809, while Sweden retained Norway, which it had seized from Denmark; as an ally of Napoleon, Denmark was penalized. Prussia also gained Swedish Pomerania and some territory in the Rhineland region of western Germany, bringing Prussian power to the French border to prevent future French aggression. The Netherlands acquired the former Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) to serve as a check to French aggression, and Sardinia-Piedmont gained the former Republic of Genoa to pose a threat to France's designs on Italy. In compensation for its loss of Belgium, Austria acquired Lombardy and the former Republic of Venice in northern Italy, and relatives of the Austrian emperor ruled Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, while an Austrian archduchess married the Bourbon ruler of the Two Sicilies. The British acquired the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and Ceylon from the Dutch, giving them further access to Indian Ocean trade, while the British also gained Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean from France and acquired Heligoland and Malta in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, respectively.

Impact
The Congress of Vienna created a new order in Europe, dominated by "great powers" and "secondary powers". The Concert of Europe preserved the conservative order established at Vienna, and Russia, Prussia, and Austria would form a "Holy Alliance", while Britain would join this alliance to form a "Quadruple Alliance". The decisions of the Congress of Vienna would set the stage for an "Age of Liberalism", a period of political reforms that would change the world forever.